Manual for army cooks

PEA SOUP, WITH SALT PORK OR BEEF. (Sufficient for 22 men.) Meat. Flour or broken biscuits. Mixed vegetables. Pepper. Split peas. Water. Peel, clean, and cut up the vegetables ; place the fresh cold water in the camp kettle ; add the vegetables and peas, and boil gently until the peas are soft. Then put into the soup about two pounds of meat, which should have been previously well washed in cold water, and simmer gently till it is cooked; then take it out and cover it up to keej) warm. Mix some flour into a smooth batter with cold water, and add it to the soup, keeping it well stirred to prevent it burning; boil for thirty minutes and serve. If flour is not to be had, use instead powdered biscuits, previously soaked in cold water. The remainder of the meat should be soaked and well washed in cold water, then put into the camp kettle, with sufficient water to cover it, and allowed to boil for thirty minutes; the water in which it was boiled should now be thrown away, the camp kettle refilled with fresh cold water, and the meat boiled till done. BOILED SOUP DUMPLING. Make a light dough, or procure from the bakery, dough which is ready for the oven. Flour the hands well and mold the dough into balls about the size of an egg. Drop them successively into boiling water. Boil in the soup about fifteen minutes. STEWS OF BEEF OR MUTTON. Joint or cut up your meat in small pieces, and place in the stewpan ; add a couple of slices of bacon, cut thin ; a few raw onions, peeled and cut up ; pepper and salt to taste. Pour m hot water until you have covered the meat with about two inches of water on top; put the lid on and simmer slowly until the water has boiled down, say one-half, or until it becomes thick or milky from the juices extracted from the meats. If it is too thin to be palatable, thicken with grated hard bread, or a paste of water and flour, mixed in a tin cup and poured into the stew. IRISH STEW, WITH SALT BEEF. Meat. Potatoes. Onions. Pepper. Wash and clean the meat in cold water ; separate it from the bone, and cnt it into small pieces of about two ounces each, and wash it well again in cold water; peel and clean the potatoes, peel and slice the onions; place the meat, potatoes, and onions in the camp kettle, add a little pepper and sufficient cold water to cover the whole ; put the lid on the kettle and cook gently over a slow lire, frequently skimming the fat off the top. A GOOD STEW. Use meats, game especially, of any or various kinds — prairie chicken, quail, duck, rabbit, turkey — or if you have no fresh meats or game, use fried bacon or pork. Into a kettle put a layer of bacon, meats, etc., and season ; dredge with flour, then add a layer of potatoes, onions, etc. ; repeating this until the kettle is nearly full, as desired. Over all pour sufficient broth or water (the former preferable) to cover, and stew slowly from one to three hours, according to size. During the last hour stir in a quart of batter to thicken ; season to taste and serve hot. HOT MEAT STEW, WITH GARNISH.